A little misty

From the early breakaway hit Fieldrunners to Com2uS's recent copyright-brandishing entry Tower Defense: Lost Earth, tower defence games on the App Store are as common as freckles on a redhead.

That makes it makes it really difficult for one title to stand out. A Knights Dawn does its best, but it doesn’t have the polish to outshine its competition.

Rounding up the posse

The storytelling is a little confusing, but the gist is that a horde of enemies is attacking your homeland. The evil menace must be held back over the course of six levels.

A Knights Dawn is all about resource-management. You're given a handful of points that you can spend on different types of warriors. Killing enemies gives you more points.

The half-dozen fighters vary widely in skills. For example, the wizard has potent long-distance spells, but is weak at close range and has little stamina, while the sturdy barbarian carries a nice sword and protective armour, but has zero range. Fighters can be placed at special locations located in the level.

A downed character is automatically resurrected where he or she stands, though it takes a few seconds to reappear. In later levels, those precious seconds are literally the difference between victory and defeat.

A rising enemy

A Knights Dawn’s enemies are ugly, vicious and, from the packs they run in, very socialable. Mean hell hounds, drooling orcs, and horrid warriors crowd the screen and pound the crew with wave after wave of attacks. A Knights Dawn pulls no punches – the first level on the easiest difficulty brings in nearly 200 continuous enemies.

The high difficulty level will prevent many gamers from exploring A Knights Dawn. The most basic levels are tough, requiring near perfect timing and strategy. A tutorial or easier difficulties would have made a big difference in the fun.

Once you cut through the difficulty, A Knights Dawn offers a solid if unoriginal tower defence experience, with so-so sound and visuals that don't make it any more memorable.